Simple and easy system to understand - both for the parent DM (who doesn't have as much time to read a 200 rulebook, as he used to in his youth) and for the kids. My kid understood very quickly how to play the game;

Can be downloaded in PDF format with several versions, one of which can be easily printed on a home printer so that you can play immediately.

Free follow-up adventures (I just got an invitation to download the new adventure: Reign of the Dragon for free). Very generous!

BAD points:

Incredibly simplistic system, with no leveling OR treasure to be mentioned (this may have been overturned in expansions and further adventures, but I only read the core guidebook and first adventure).

The first adventure focuses only on combat, and is incredibly repetitive. Fight a group of rats, then another group of rats, then a third group of rats, then the rats and their king. I'm not adverse to violence (I love intriguing fights), but the system is so simple that the fights become boring very quickly on the one hand, and on the other hand: is this REALLY what RPGs are about? Kill monsters? I think we all know there are about much more than that. They are about the wonder of discovery, the relationship between characters, moral questions and problems, etc. Kids are NOT too young to deal with these issues! By focusing the adventure (and indeed, the core system) only on combat, it diminishes their potential enjoyment of the game.

This pattern of bad adventure design continues in Reign of the Dragon (the only add-on adventure I tried), in which the characters face a huge dragon that lands in their village, and demands to essentially become their ruler. Then, cultists come to capture the dragon, and demand that the kids turn him over to their keeping. For some incomprehensible reason, the author seems to think the kids should protect the dragon. Well, my kids immediately gave him over, and finished the adventure in three minutes. As they should have, too! Why not make the dragon be in trouble, instead of making it tyrranical and demanding? Why put the kids in a position in which they have to defend a bully, rather than making them feel as "righteous protectors"?? All this indicates to me that I can't rely on adventures written by the inventor of the game, and that I need to come up with my own - or to tweak the adventures to fit my kids (obviously, this may be different for your kids).

Overall, this is a recommended purchase for any parent who wants to involve his or her kids in RPGs for the first time, but be aware you'll need to do a lot of tweaking to the adventures.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm always looking for this kind of feedback about what people are looking for from Hero Kids adventures.
My playtesters of Reign of the Dragon were fine with volunteering to protect the dragon, but I think that your feedback is correct. I'll update the adventure to make it more clear why they should help the dragon before the cultists arrive and confront them!
For the treasure, you should check out the Equipment cards that are available (these are detailed in the core rules, but the equipment and item cards are available as expansions or in adventures):
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/116614/Hero-Kids--Fantasy-Expansion--Equipment-Cards
Finally, leveling is an area of the game that I have been considering for a very long time. Other people have release character development rules for Hero Kids, but I have not yet:
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/196871/Character-Advancement--A-Hero-Kids-Compatible-Supplement-for-Levelling-Characters?filters=45487_0_0_0_0
Thanks again!

I came to Forge Engine from mostly d20 systems so there was a definite learning curve, but not in a bad way.
I like that the d10 system is (mostly) opposed - having played one d10 system where 6 is a always a succcess this is better.

The energy system is more complex than most other systems but has several significant pros.
Defense is not static so unlike strict turn systems you just don't throw everything you can into your "turn" and be able to rely on static defences.
The need to hold onto energy to react to adverseries actions makes turns more realistic and your actually won't know that your "turn" (decision making wise) is over till it's over.
Externalities (keyword) allows the GM to reward clever play, and as it is at the GM's discretion it is simple and quick and there are no rule arguments, "The DMG says it is 50% cover so I get +4 not +2!"
Get your head around the energy system and the game will flow.
Practical advice - get two different colours for your d10's and use one for energy (Red) and one for bonus dice (white)

Combat wise having a set pool of d10 for a weapon whether it is prehistoric (rock) generic (knife) or advanced (rifle) is simple, intuitive and easy to understand, eg, The guy with the shortbow has to spend 3 energy to get 2 attack dice (takes a bunch of effort) but me with my 44 magnum I only have to spend 2 energy (its mostly the gun doing the work) and get 4 dice (very big bullets!) and dice pools are very obvious/intuitive - Having an absolute fistful of dice is a winning feeling much much betterthan rolling two d10 and crossing your fingers.

Last and definately not least the system excels where different worlds collide, eg, pPost apocalyse where shortbows often fight handguns, Horror where magic goes up against modern policing methods, or simply that many of the skills translate accross genres eg, Medicine works for a caveman shaman (trepanning anyone?), a 17th century physician (-2 dice for using leeches?) or a 21 century surgeon (many bonus dice from technology)

Pros:
• The system's very quick to get up and running.
• I love the use of a single die type.
• The way that the dice pools are used is simple but clever.
• You can change the direction your character's abilities grow along the campaign - and not limited to a "class".

Cons:
• I still need help with handling my character's energy in combat; when I'm "spending" energy or "adding" energy into my action pool.
• Some skills and attributes weren't really used in our campaign - but that is more game style, than the rules. So it's important to establish up front which skills are used based on the campaign.

Fantastic. Just started it, at my the school I work at, as a lunchtime activity, thought it would be a bit of fun for the kids but was worried if they would get into it. They loved it and keep asking me if it's Friday yet (when we play). I also had an absolute blast and was a bit annoyed when lunchtime was over, it's actually my first time GMing and I was a bit nervous but the bits of story it gives you to read before and after encounters really helps.

As one of the players that has been involved in some of the playtesting for this system, I found that it contained some interesting concepts, as well as being adaptable to various settings. (One of the settings I got to experience was Roman Era as accidental time travelers, and the other was a space setting). For the most part, if your group is accustommed to role playing, you won't even notice what system you're using, and depending on your GM as to how much dice rolling you have. I like the point buy process, and the regular advancement of characters through play, though yet again that can be controlled by the GM to allow for slower or faster character development.

One of the bits I find a bit too complex with not a significant gain over possible simpler solutions is the combat and dice pools, where you have the base one, and you have energy points you can spend to bring in more dice, depending on which skill you are using. It limits your ability to use skills all the time, and does so quite well, but it feels more complex than necessary.

This was a good adventure to work on listening skills - trying to keep a list of tasks and the order she wanted to do them in to help the most people.
It also highlighted that we needed to discuss with her about what is ok to keep secrets about vs things that should be discussed with an adult. Amazing what a "simple game" can make parents realize :)

Such a great idea for this age group - my daughter (and wife) very much enjoyed that they could colour & decorate their characters. (I'm sure next session the character token will get coloured to match)

6.5 year old has very much enjoyed the game - we've played 2 of the adventures so far - one of which we did one evening while on a family vacation - just had printed the adventure beforehand - handful of 6 sided dice and a very compact game to play whereever the desire (or boredom) may strike.

Simple rules, simple math, the adults have had fun, she has had fun.
Works on listening skills, critical thinking, some good math practice for the age group, and at least one of the adventures highlighted a discussion we needed to have on what kinds of things are appropriate for "keeping secrets" vs what should be discussed with an adult.

I like the flexibility of using this system for different role playing genres. Having started roleplaying with my son using other systems that are more fixed in their genre and seeing him create worlds with his friends in commercial games such has Minecraft I am looking forward to introducing him to creating campaigns using this system away from screens.

This product as a whole, Hero Kids, is an amazing investment. My 5 year old son and I have played over ten times in the first few weeks of owning it. I love how imaginitive he gets. My D&D group has a few dads and we got together to all play. Each adventure is unique and has many options to increase the replay factor. It's flexible enough that we can go rules lite and really let the story be the focus, or play it straight up and work on his math and counting! And the narration is wonderful, putting the kids as the heroes to do what the grown ups can't! I have recommemded this product and all of its adventures and expansions to all of my friends with kids.

What a great system to introduce RPGs to my 6yo boy! I was an AD&D and GURPS player from waaaay back when, and have been missing the hobby. When my son found my old D&D books and expressed interest, I jumped at the opportunity. I went looking for an age-appropriate system, ultimately landing on Hero Kids.

We had our first extended session this past weekend, and boy howdy did he have fun! He picked up the game mechanics straight away, and I got back into my old GM groove (just like old times!) He immediately gravitated to the Wolfchild character, and we spent several hours just developing his backstory, and my mind is abuzz with some fun ideas for an extended storyline. I'm so jazzed he's taken to the hobby so enthusiastically, and that I'm able to scratch that RPG itch after so long.

I've been play testing this with my buddies. Took me a while to get used to not rolling a d20 and I had to purchase heaps of d10s but it's been great fun and the system can adapt to anything. The rules are well layed out and full of excellent imagery. Well done Justin.

This is a beautiful expansion for the practically perfect Hero Kids system. I love playing it with my kids, and they are going to adore the new heros. Beautiful art and interesting special abilities. Highly recommended! We also love the expansion set where they play animal heroes, so I recommend picking up both expansions and letting your little players pick from the lot. Each set includes printable character sheets - a half page size, black and white. We color ours in as part of the character creation process. Also is a page of foldable playing pieces for each character. We color those, too, and usually tape them to a coin to hold them steady. Enjoy!